


Wings Beneath Your Fingertips

by YukiRiikus_Reading_Room



Series: When Dean Was Sleeping [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Developing Relationship, Guardian Angels, Implied Castiel/Dean Winchester, M/M, Protective Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 20:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/904610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room/pseuds/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Castiel first came to Dean Winchester, it was against his orders not to show himself.  Now that he's been cleared to show himself to his charge, he can't find the words to tell him that the feathers he found on his pillow one morning are his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wings Beneath Your Fingertips

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BeccastielDW](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccastielDW/gifts).



He’d never considered the fact that a human charge might want proof that their angel was, in fact, real and not a hoax.  Even if he had thought about it, prepared himself for the attack and accusations, Castiel wasn’t sure he ever would have been able to prepare himself for the request.

“If you’re an angel then show me your wings.”

If it had been any other human, anyone but Dean Winchester, Castiel might have shown them.  Back home in Heaven, he almost never put them away except when other angels he was working with insisted upon it – he found the new trend Raphael had started of sheathing wings in the office to be dull and an unnecessary break with tradition, but didn’t dare say anything to the other angel’s face – and even after only about an hour on Earth with his charge, Castiel was already itching to release them and soar about the Rocky mountains he’d heard tell of from Anna just a little to the north from where he currently stood in the Winchester’s cramped motel room.

If it had been anyone else, he would have said yes.  But, it was Dean.

“I can’t do that, I’m sorry.”  Castiel said flatly, swallowing when the hunter rolled his eyes and turned to look at his younger brother sitting at the desk watching both of them warily.  “I fail to understand why you refuse to believe that I am who I say I am.”

“We did run through the whole gambit with him and nothing stood out.  Salt, holy water, silver, iron, nothing affected him.”  Sam said quietly, wincing when his brother shot him a terse look.  “I’m just saying, he’s either a human trying to fuck with us, or something we haven’t encountered before.  You know about all the other things out there in the world that most people take for granted as being made up.  Why can’t you believe in angels?”

“Because they’re very clearly made up.  They’re a joke Sammy, how can you not see that?”  Dean snapped, stomping over to the mini-fridge to grab himself a beer.  He offered one to Sam, who shook his head, walking by Castiel without offering him one or even acknowledging that he was still in the room.  “Angels were shoved in the Bible as a way of giving people hope.  Sure, everyone wants to believe someone’s got their back on high to keep anything really terrible from happening to them, but it’s not real.”

“My brothers and sisters have been around since the beginning. Only our Father and Death are older.  We we’re put into the Bible to make our Father’s children complacent Dean, we were written in because we were around when those events were taking place.”  Castiel said calmly, his already deep voice lowering defensively to a meek growl when his charge gave him a skeptical look.  “There must be some way to make you believe I am an angel.”

“I already told you—”

“And I told YOU, I can’t show you my wings.”  Castiel interrupted, struggling to keep the panic beginning to rise in his chest under control.  “There are… protocols in my garrison about this sort of thing.  We can’t show our charges our wings just because they ask.”

“Then how do any of you get any of your charges to believe you’re really angels?”  Sam asked, Dean shooting him an approving smile.  Castiel swallowed again, trying to buy himself a little time to think up a response by turning away from the pair of them to stare out the window.  “I mean, we’re hunters, we believe in a lot of things that the rest of the world doesn’t.  I can’t believe any normal human being would just believe some person who randomly showed up and told them they were an angel sent to watch over them and keep them safe.”

“Not everyone has a guardian in Heaven.  Only a very special few humans are granted the honor of particular divine intervention or protection.”  The angel said gently, turning to fix his eyes on his charge.  Dean blinked at the intensity of Castiel’s stare and looked away, trying to hide his sudden embarrassment by taking a long swig of his beer.  “And, those who are fortune enough to warrant a guardian generally have enough faith to believe it when we show ourselves.”

“I gave up on faith a long time ago buddy.”  Dean said with a frown, dropping down on the edge of his bed with a slight hiss.  Castiel immediately rushed to his side, a concerned look on his face.  “Dude, personal space.”

“Are you in pain?”  The angel asked brushing off Dean’s attempts to force him away. 

“It’s nothing, just a minor injury I got on our last job.  I bruised my ribs on our last hunt when a ghoul got the better of me.”  Dean shrugged.  Without saying another word Castiel reached out and placed his hands on the hunter’s injured side, his eyes falling shut as his eyes started to glow.  “What the hell?”

“Does that feel better?  I believe I healed the problem efficiently, but if you’re in pain anywhere else, I could attend to that as well.”  He asked, the hunter raising an eyebrow at him as he gingerly felt around his ribs finding no pain.  Dumbfounded he turned to Sam, his mouth hanging open slightly.  “Now do you believe me?” 

“Well, it’s not wings… but it’s enough for now.  I guess I can roll with the idea of a healing angel being on our side.”

“In that case, I shall return to Heaven to give my report.  If you find yourself in need of my assistance before I’m through, just pray for me and I’ll come back as fast as I can.”  Castiel said with a smile, disappearing back to his garrison before Dean could respond. 

Gabriel was on him almost instantly.

“You idiot, you almost made that jerk go postal on you down there!”  Gabriel said with a frown, Castiel rolling his eyes as he pulled out Dean’s file to write out his report for his superior.  As far as he was concerned, his older brother was just being nosy and interfering like he had been for centuries.  As one of the younger angels in the garrison, Castiel often found himself being watched over closely by his more concerned siblings, particularly Gabriel and Anna, though it wasn’t out of the question for Uriel to come to his assistance or offer unwarranted advice.  “Why didn’t you just show him your wings?  And what was with that lie about protocols to avoid it?”    

“Dean can’t see my wings… I’m worried he’ll recognize my feathers, and that would be hard to explain.”  Castiel said in a rush, blushing and looking away when his brother raised an eyebrow at him. 

“You went to Earth when he was sleeping to comfort him before the order came for you to show yourself to him, didn’t you?” 

“Yes.”  He said softly, his brother cursing under his breath as he perched on the edge of his brother’s desk holding his head in his hands.  “I don’t know for sure but I’m worried I might have… left feathers behind.  You know how I’m always dropping feathers wherever I go.  I didn’t even think about it at the time, but when I got back here and realized what might have happened...” 

“Why exactly would it be so terrible if he found out you’d been there before, exactly?”  Gabriel asked.  “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“From what I understand, it’s considered ‘creepy’ or ‘stalker-like’ to crawl into someone’s bed and hold them while they sleep, even if you’re only doing it to help them deal with their nightmares.”  Castiel sighed, shooting his brother a dirty look when he burst out laughing.  “What’s so funny?”

“You, oh Dad, don’t ever change Cassy.  My little brother, the angelic stalker, that is too funny.”

 

*                      *                      *

 

For the next four months, Castiel came whenever Dean called, no matter if it was to heal his and Sam’s battle wounds or to help them safely infiltrate a coven of witches who were picking of virgin cheerleaders in upstate New Jersey just because they could.

Gradually, Dean came to believe and trust his angel much to Castiel’s relief.  Still, there were odd moments when the angel would catch his charge giving him long, searching looks out of the corner of his eye, but he never commented on them.  More than anything, he wanted to be a good guardian for Dean, someone who the hunter could come to depend upon.  Even though Castiel knew it few angels ever did, he couldn’t help but feel himself wanting to become closer to his charge, to befriend him and spend more time on Earth with him.  At the end of a mission or request, he often found himself making excuses to stay with the Winchester’s in their cheap motel rooms for as long as possible before flitting back to Heaven where Gabriel and Anna gave him searching looks. 

They looked at him like he was missing something obvious, and it made him nervous. 

One afternoon as he sat in his garrison’s office sharpening his angel blade, Castiel felt the gentle swell of warmth in his chest that always alerted him that somewhere Dean Winchester was praying to him.  Without even bothering to put his weapon away, Cas dropped to Earth and into Dean’s room.

As he put his weapon away in the folds of his coat, he instantly noticed something was different about this room: Sam wasn’t in it.

 “I had a quick question I wanted to run by you Cas, if that’s alright.  After all, you did say if I needed you to just pray and you’d zoom your ass back here.”  Dean said, his voice carefully measured.  Unsure why, Castiel took a small step back, suddenly wary.  He’d never been alone with his charge before, and something about the way Dean was staring at him made him wish Sam would walk through the door at any second and relieve the strange tension he didn’t understand currently filling the room.  “I mean, you said you’re here to help keep me safe, right?  And giving me information would be helpful in doing that.”

“I suppose so, yes.  After all, I have seen everything that’s gone on with your planet since its creation.”  The angel said slowly, dropping slowly down to sit next to him when Dean gestured for him to do so.  “What did you want to ask me about?”

“I think something or someone broke into our motel room a little while back.  We keep hex bags and protective spells in place wherever we go, so the idea that something could get through everything worries me.  I haven’t told Sam yet, don’t want him to worry if he doesn’t have to, you know?”  Dean said slowly, reaching into his pocket.  “Something left these on my pillow for me to find when I woke up.”

If angels breathed, Castiel was sure he would have stopped.  Sure enough, in Dean’s hand were three of his jet black flight feathers. 

“Let me see them.”  The angel asked in a tight voice, reaching out a hand.  For a minute, he worried the hunter would refuse him, but after a long moment Dean placed the feathers in his grasp.  Curling his fingers around them Castiel felt his breathing calm slightly.  “Well… I can tell you that you’re most certainly not in danger from what left these behind, that’s for certain.”

“And why is that?”

“Because these are angel feathers, and no angel would dare threaten the life of someone who’s been given a guardian by our Father.”  Castiel said at once, immediately regretting his words when Dean’s eyes latched meaningfully onto his.  “Why are you… looking at me like that?”

“Whose feathers are they, Cas?”  Dean asked, his voice full of something Castiel didn’t quite recognize.

Looking into Dean’s eyes, he suddenly found himself unable to lie.  Something about the hunter made him want to be honest, even if it meant Dean might not trust him anymore.

“They… they’re mine.”  Castiel said softly, taking a deep breath and materializing his wings.  He didn’t look up when Dean gasped, shutting his eyes as he started speaking again.  “I… left them behind on accident.  You know I was tasked with watching over you, but… I started my mission long before I was allowed to show myself to you.  Mostly, I was tasked with watching over you and recording your progress in your file, though occasionally I was given the order to covertly assist you, to take out enemies that were coming after you that you wouldn’t have  been aware of.” 

“If you knew you left feathers behind, why were you so insistent about not showing me your wings when you finally did show yourself to me?”  Dean asked, Castiel finally chancing a glance up at him. 

“Because I didn’t mean to leave those behind.  I came to you without orders while you were sleeping.”

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.  When Cas looked away again, he gently reached out and tilted his chin back up, locking eyes with the angel.  “Cas, why did you come to me when I was sleeping?”

“Because you were in pain, and I needed to do something about it, even if it was against my orders.”  Castiel said softly, swallowing when Dean looked taken aback, dropping his hand from the angel’s face.  “You were having a nightmare, and I just… I couldn’t stand seeing you in pain a second longer.  I’d been watching you for so long, seeing what you went through without having the clearance to do anything to outright help you or stop your pain.  One night it just… became too much for me to bear.”

“So I didn’t imagine you that night, did I?”  Castiel looked up at him, startled.  Smiling softly Dean took the angel’s hands in his, his eyes softening.  “When you came to tell me that you were my guardian angel, I thought I was losing my mind.  I woke up when you came to me Cas.”

“You did?”

“Yes, but I thought I was dreaming.”  Dean sighed, rubbing his thumb over the back of the angel’s hands gently.  “I heard your wings when you showed up, and flipped over.  You crawled into bed with me and held me, and I just… I felt so peaceful and safe I thought I had to be asleep.  Especially when you said you were going to keep me safe.”

“I meant it, ever word.”  Castiel said softly, smiling when Dean laughed. 

“I know Cas, I know.”  Dean grinned, leaning down at rest his forehead against the angel’s.  “So, now that I know, can I ask a favor?”

“What do you want?”

“Could you sleep with me more often?” 


End file.
